


The Prose and Cons of Poetry

by shipitbetterthanfedex



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Lots of bad metaphors, SO MUCH FLUFF, post-reveal, puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 09:52:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10435110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shipitbetterthanfedex/pseuds/shipitbetterthanfedex
Summary: After two weeks of knowing his Lady's identity, Adrien is finally given an excuse to stare at her and come up with what are basically no better than pickup lines, all in the name of poetry. Marinette is not so pleased, but she can't deny that her chaton really is adorable, horrible pickup lines and all.(This is basically just an excuse for me to make more puns.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry for my terrible sense of humour

The door to the classroom burst open, banging against the wall behind it and startling the entire class. Although they were used to Marinette being late, they were never quite prepared for her sudden entrances. She stood panting in the doorway for a second as Alya hung her head in sympathetic embarrassment.

Mme. Bustier barely spared her a glance before continuing with the lesson. “As I was saying, since we learned about metaphors yesterday, today we’ll be doing an exercise where we make our own. I’ll be putting everyone into partners and you must come up with metaphors to describe them. For example, calling someone a lightbulb because they are bright. I want comparisons that go beyond just that, though. The more creative, the happier I’ll be. In case you are not particularly close with your partner, I will give you half an hour to get to know them. Does everyone understand? Excellent. The partners are as follows…”

As their teacher was reading out the list of names, Adrien resisted the urge to turn around and stare at Marinette. Sure, it had been almost two weeks since their big discovery and he had been spending almost all his free time—which wasn’t much—with her, but it was still hard to know that she was _right there_ and he couldn’t just spend the entire day gazing at her. She had said she wanted to take things slowly at first, and while he had agreed, the less rational part of him just wanted to grab a hold of her and never let go. However, he knew that she was already uncertain about this whole situation, and he didn’t want to scare her off, so he restrained himself to shoulder-touches and smiles and maybe—if he dared—the occasional hug. Gaping at her openly in front of the whole class was definitely not something she would be comfortable with right now, especially since she was so easily embarrassed, so instead he focused on his hands until he heard his name being called.

“…Adrien and Marinette…”

This was the best day of his life. Well, the third best, right after the day he became Chat Noir and two weeks ago when he found out Marinette was Ladybug, but still up there. He got to spend at least half an hour studying her with school as an excuse. This was amazing!

Adrien couldn’t hold back a grin as he finally turned around to face her. The dusting of pink across her cheeks was as adorable as ever, though her expression was different from how she used to look at him. While she still looked nervous, instead of paralyzing fear in her eyes there was trust and fondness. Knowing that it was Chat Noir that brought those emotions out in her filled Adrien with an unexpected warmth.

He thought of his first word.

She was writing something, too, but she shielded her paper from him when he tried to read it.

“What, so I can’t see what you think of me?” he asked, pulling his lips into a pout that couldn’t be convincing with the smile he was suppressing. Marinette glanced up at him and he tried to ignore how his heart faltered a bit at the sight of her looking through her lashes. That girl was too adorable.

“You already know what I think of you,” she muttered, probably hoping he wouldn’t hear. But he wasn’t sure at all, not really. As Ladybug, she always seemed to think of him as nothing more than a friend who told too many puns and flirted a lot. As Marinette, she seemed intimidated by him for some reason and they didn’t really talk much despite how much time they spent together. He had no idea what she really thought of him besides ‘friend’. While he had been visiting her consistently as Chat Noir lately and sipping hot chocolate on her balcony, she was still as hard to read as ever.

“Why is this so hard?” Marinette complained, throwing her pen down in frustration after a few minutes of silence. “I’ve only got one word so far. How am I supposed to think of five?”

“Wait, we need _five_?” Adrien definitely hadn’t heard that part.

Marinette grinned and rested her chin on one hand. “You weren’t paying any attention, were you?”

Adrien felt himself blushing and looked down to hide it, rubbing the back of his neck as if he could brush away the redness there. “I may have been a bit distracted, my Lady.”

When he looked up, he saw that Marinette looked just as flustered as he did. Well, it was encouraging to know that at least they were both out at sea, even if they weren’t on the same boat. Though Adrien feared he might need a life raft if he kept drowning in her eyes.

Wait, that wasn’t bad. He would have to save that line for when she was feeling comfortable around him again. He couldn’t let amazing lines like that just go to waste.

 As they worked, he couldn’t help but glance up at her every so often. And ‘often’ was definitely the operative word there. But how could he not? The way she bit her pen, the way her eyebrows scrunched up in thought, the way her eyes widened when he caught her staring or vice versa—she was amazing in every way.

Adrien was finished in no time. Only five words felt like nothing—he could write about her for years and never be finished. Glancing at the clock, he saw that only ten minutes had passed and decided to keep going. A lot of his weren’t very good—‘a lamp because you light up my life’—and he only wanted the best metaphors for his Lady. Anything less would be an insult.

“Should we get to know each other a bit better?” he asked eventually, noticing that she seemed to be stuck trying to think of words.

Marinette smiled at him. “I’m pretty sure I know you, _chaton_ ,” she told him, “but poetry has never been my strongest subject. I’m not like you—words don’t just…work for me. You have your puns and your flirty lines, but I’d much rather draw what I’m thinking of than describe it.”

“Well, why don’t you just pretend you’re designing something for me?” he suggested. “What kinds of things would you include?”

She giggled. “If I were designing something for you, it would have cat ears and a tail.”

Adrien joined her in her laughter. “I wouldn’t blame you. After all, I’m too _claw_ -some to have anything else.”

“Give it _Agreste_ , Adrien,” Marinette replied with a roll of her eyes.

He gasped. “My Lady, you punned!”

“Don’t get used to it.”

“You’re right,” he said, acting defeated. If he was transformed just then, his ears would have been drooping. “Puns are just like poetry. You should leave them to the _prose_.”

A pause, then: “I really hate you sometimes, you know that?”

“Aw, you love me, Bugaboo.”

She muttered something too low for him to hear and bent over her page, completely ignoring him. Adrien checked the clock again only to see that their time was almost up. Had it really been that long?

Mme. Bustier called for the students’ attention by clapping her hands. “Alright, everyone, you’ve had plenty of time to come up with your words. Now, it’s time to share them with the class.”

Adrien blinked. Wait, what? They were supposed to share their words with the entire class? He hadn’t thought of a single thing that wasn’t completely embarrassing. How was he supposed to share these without dying of embarrassment?

He looked at Marinette, but she seemed just as surprised and nervous as he did. This was going to be a memorable class, at least.

“While I expect that many of the words will be self-explanatory,” Mme. Bustier continued, “if some of them aren’t immediately obvious, I would like for you to explain them.”

She began calling up partners. Everyone laughed when Kim described Chloe as a paper cut because she was so annoying, and when Max called Alya a cliff because she was intimidating. It seemed like everyone had gone for a light-hearted, joking atmosphere. When it finally came to Adrien and Marinette’s turn, they shared a nervous look before beginning.

Marinette spoke first. “A rock.”

Adrien frowned. What was that supposed to mean? That he was dense?

“Steady, reliable…” She glanced up at him, blushing. “Um, they seem really simple but when you think about it, there’s a whole story that you don’t know?”

“A quilt,” Adrien replied, not knowing what else to say. She thought of him as all that? “Warm, safe, comforting…my mother once made one for me before—well, before everything. I was too young to really remember it, but…I can still feel the love in every stitch.” He couldn’t look her in the eyes as he said the last part, but he heard the entire class cooing at how ‘adorable’ he was.

“A kitten,” Marinette responded quickly. “Cute, curious, adventurous, energetic, innocent.”

He grinned when she said that, knowing she had really only put it there as an inside joke between them. He also didn’t fail to notice that she’d just called him _cute_. There was no way she was getting away with that without him countering it. “A Labyrinth. I can’t always figure it out, but I could spend eternity getting lost in it.”

Marinette’s head snapped up and she stared at him for a few seconds before saying, “A hammer. Always hitting on something.”

Adrien couldn’t help but laugh a bit and wink at her, causing Marinette to roll her eyes and the class to whisper frantically at each other. Adrien Agreste, _flirting?_ This was unheard of. Adrien himself, though, was just thinking of how he could make these into pickup lines for their next patrol. “The sun. Bright, dazzling, attention-grabbing, warm. I want to stare at it forever, even though I know I shouldn’t.”

Now Marinette was completely red, but she didn’t let it stop her from continuing. “A knight. Chivalrous, gallant, brave, and loyal.”

She was just using all their inside jokes now. He would have made one about her being a princess, but the only thing he could come up with was ‘beautiful’. While she was definitely that, he didn’t really think of it as one of her most important features. And Ladybug would rather save herself than wait for someone to come along and rescue her like the stereotypical princess. It made Chat’s nickname all the more ironic, though he wouldn’t stop using it after all this time. It was their thing now, and the irony just made it better.

“The tide,” he said instead. “Even if it sinks to its lowest point, it will always come back. And it has, occasionally, swept me off my feet.” Another wink. Another eye roll. More whispers.

Marinette’s hands were shaking now on her paper as she glanced down at it before taking a deep breath and meeting Adrien’s eyes again. “Crutches,” she said to him, as if they were the only two in the room. “Always there to support me when I’m at my worst. Even if I’m broken, you’re always there to help me get back on my feet.”

He stared at her for a few seconds, shocked. She really felt that way? During their patrols, and more recently when they were on her balcony, she was so confident and sassy with him. It seemed as if nothing really touched her, despite everything that had happened. He had no idea his words of encouragement actually meant that much to her.

There was only one word left on Adrien’s page that he hadn’t either read or scratched out. Unlike the others, there was no explanation beside it because it was something he couldn’t put into words. No matter how much he had always thought Ladybug and Marinette—separately or together—didn’t need him, he had always known he needed her. Whenever he saw her, this was the feeling that nearly overwhelmed him—something he had been missing for almost his entire life. Aware of the entire class watching them intently, but unable to back down now, he looked up at Marinette.

“Home.”

There was a small intake of breath from Marinette before he felt her touch one of his hands lightly. He turned it over to intertwine their fingers, like he did sometimes if she let him when they were sitting on the Eiffel Tower or curled up on her lawn chairs. This was his home.

Of course, people had to interrupt them.

Chloe was yelling something that Adrien was all too happy to tune out, Rose was sighing in happiness at the sight of them, Alix and Kim were making gagging noises in the corner. Nino clapped his friend on the shoulder with a ‘bro, that was _smooth._ ’

But it was Alya who caught their attention the most. “Girl, what the fu—” she glanced at Mme. Bustier—“fudge was that? Since when are you two so… _sappy?_ Why the he—eck didn’t I know about this development? Are you guys _dating?_ ”

“We’re not dating!” Marinette yelped, bringing up a hand to cover her now-burning cheeks. Adrien, Alya, and the rest of the class didn’t fail to notice it wasn’t the hand that was still holding her not-boyfriend’s.

“Yet,” Adrien added, smirking at her. She glared at him before burying her face in her arm on her desk. (Still not letting go of his hand. She was still holding it. Adrien was still trying not to combust.)

Alya glanced between the two of them accusingly. “I am _so_ getting all the details.” She glanced at Mme. Bustier again, who was now quite obviously waiting for the class to settle down. “Later, of course. Right now, I’m gonna try to not get into detention with Marinette here. Wait, that gives me an idea…”

As Alya continued to ramble in hopes of being held after school in a close classroom with her best friend—said friend gulped in fear—Adrien leaned closer to Marinette.

“You know how you called me a rock?” he whispered.

Marinette eyed him warily. “Yes, but I think I’m about to regret it.”

“I’ll never take you for _granite_.”

She gave him no reaction except a blank stare, so he tried again.

“I would ask you out, but I need to be a bit _boulder_.”

“I think you’re plenty bold enough, Agreste,” Marinette told him. “But, if you did get up the courage to ask me, I might say yes. Horrible pickup lines and all.”

He blinked. “Wait, what? What happened to taking it slow?”

Marinette shrugged. “It’s been a few weeks. I’ve adjusted as much as I think I can. I also really, really like you and it’s really hard not to just grab your face and kiss it every time you look at me like…well, like _that_.”

Adrien hadn’t realized he was looking at her in any sort of particular way, but he assumed all the love and adoration for her must be just shining out of his face. He smiled.

“I can’t help it. You rock my world.”

And then she slammed her head onto the desk.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
